Agency Adopts Park Plan For Brooklyn Waterfront

By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: July 27, 2005

State officials approved a draft plan yesterday for an 85-acre waterfront park near Downtown Brooklyn that would include playing fields, marinas, restaurants and offices, and 1,200 units of luxury housing.

The proposed plan for a 1.3-mile shoreline park stretching from the Manhattan Bridge to Cobble Hill is an important step forward in a contentious effort over nearly 20 years to develop the largely neglected waterfront area. The park plan and a draft environmental review will go before public hearings in September.

By far the most controversial part of the plan is the proposal to build or renovate five residential buildings, including a new 30-story tower. The decision to include housing was first made public in December, as part of a plan to make the park finance its own upkeep. But the number of housing units, first revealed yesterday, elicited angry reactions from a number of community groups that have opposed the plan.

''The question in the community has been, is this a park with some housing in it, or is this a housing project with a large amount of public space,'' said Roy Sloane, a former president of the Cobble Hill Association who helps organize opponents of the project. ''It now appears to be the latter.''

The opponents have long contended that the park lacks adequate recreational features and that building so much luxury housing will effectively make much of the waterfront area into a backyard for the rich.

But officials with the Empire State Development Corporation, whose board adopted the 14-page project plan and a draft environmental review yesterday, vigorously disputed that view.

''Ninety percent of the park will be used for open space,'' said Charles A. Gargano, the chairman of the corporation. ''We need a revenue stream, but we've tried to minimize the footprint of the development.''

Property taxes on the housing would go toward the park's annual upkeep, which is estimated to be $15.2 million a year, he said.

One model for the project is Hudson River Park in Manhattan, which has included development projects to help pay for its upkeep, Mr. Gargano said. Those projects also provoked some community opposition.

The city has agreed to contribute $65 million and the state $85 million to build the project, on parkland owned by both.

If it goes forward, building on the park project is expected to begin in 2008 and to be completed by 2012, according to the plan released yesterday. The park's design, by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, includes ''canals, boardwalks and floating bridges that wind around the existing piers.'' There would be 12 acres of paddling waters for kayaking, rowboating and other water sports. The entrances to the park would be at Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Ferry Landing and in Dumbo (for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

The project would also include a 224-room hotel, restaurants and cafes, 150,000 square feet of retail space and 1,100 parking spaces.

But it is the residential element that has galvanized opposition among many Brooklynites. Although a few civic groups have come out in favor of the plan, opponents say the housing element was pushed through largely in secret. Some have accused the park's planners of catering to developers, particularly at 360 Furman Street, a privately owned warehouse near the northern edge of the park.

Mr. Gargano said the park's planners agreed to help Robert Levine, the owner of 360 Furman Street, convert the building more quickly to residential use as part of a deal in which the building's tenants would help finance the park's upkeep.